The six fingered servant
by TheNinja3004
Summary: Merlin has a secret, and no it's not his magic, that's not it this time, but still if Arthur found out... rated K
1. The secret

**The six fingered servant**

Merlin always knew there was something different about him. His childhood was almost a blur to him, what with his father leaving so unexpectedly and his mother fiercely protecting him wherever he went, and so he began to suspect that he wasn't the normalest child on earth, he wished for friends but his mother refused anyone to see him apart from herself and a few of her most trusted friends. He couldn't understand why he was shut away from the world, because he knew that his Mother loved him very deeply and therefore was confused when he wasn't allowed friends. He was then even more confused-though relieved and excited- when his mother said to him that he should make his own way in life and travel to Camelot!

Merlin sat on the wooden bed; he decided his nails needed cutting. He got up and began to once again ponder his childhood, his brain settling down for a familiar story to be told, his thoughts as always began with the village.

~.~

 _"_ _We have nothing more to give, please I beg you!" The women begged, tears threatening to make an appearance_

 _"_ _You have nothing more to give" the man sneered "I highly doubt that, you've hidden food from me before why should I believe you now" the man's teeth were yellow and gnarly; he was not under any stretch of the imagination a pleasant being. Yet it was not the man's face that Merlin was interested in, for being a young boy with no father he had little understanding of debts and failed harvests and ugly men, no. Merlin was more interested in the black leather gloves the man wore. He was in awe of them; they were beautiful and fitted perfectly._

~.~

At this point merlin sat down on the bed again with the small penknife and looked at his own hands, they had never fitted into gloves, and they never would.

 _"_ _What are you gawking at boy!" The ugly man said angrily. Merlin's first reaction was to go and find his mother but his feet stayed put_

 _With a small voice Merlin replied "y-your gloves, sir"_

 _"_ _You like my gloves do you?" the man said softly "here have them" his voice almost sounded kind. He began to take off the gloves daintily pulling them._

 _Merlin's right hand began to stretch out but then it stopped, and Merlin glanced down at his left hand_

 _Such a trivial thing. Yet enough to condemn a man to the gallows._

~.~

The knife hovered over Merlin's thumb. He slowly cut the long nail off; wincing as he accidentally touched the skin. He still remembered the slap from his mother, the dirty looks from the village, the way he ignored all of this and felt pleased and excited for he had his own pair of gloves! Deep in his brain, he knew that there was a catch somewhere he just didn't think it would come so soon.

~.~

 _"_ _Boy! How are the gloves" the man said with a hint of sarcasm. Merlin no longer referred to him in his head as the ugly man but instead he had upgraded him to the man on the horse, or the man with gloves. The man on the horse came very often but Merlin was unaware of what he really came, he was also unaware that he and his mother were almost penniless; all he knew was the generosity he had received from the man._

 _Therefore he replied with "they're very good sir, thank you again" he couldn't admit to the man that he had not actually had the chance to wear the gloves since his other had confiscated them when he first arrived home… after the slap._

 _"_ _Why are you not wearing them?" the man on the horse said_

 _"_ _Err, its n-not cold enough for gloves today"_

 _"_ _Then why are your hands shivering," there was a pause "you haven't lost them have you?" the man suddenly snapped_

 _"_ _N-n-no Sir"_

 _"_ _DON'T LIE TO ME BOY!" Merlin jumped at the sound_

~.~

Merlin looked down at his index finger. He'd made it bleed by missing the nail completely; he sucked the cut and shook his finger, his mind still playing the action back.

~.~

 _It happened really quickly._

 _One moment the man was on the horse then all of a sudden the man was holding Merlin up by the scruff of his shirt._

 _Merlin yelped and panicked he tried kick the man but it was no use. Then abruptly a knife was drawn and placed against his throat, Merlin yelped again. He felt his eyes burn golden and time began to slow down, he couldn't control it but he knew it was happening again. Merlin was dropped to the floor and he gasped whilst the man began to scream… the knife had made its way down the man's eye and was making it bleed horribly._

~.~

Merlin put the knife down. He always knew he was different and having magic certainly made him different. He picked the knife back up again and began cutting his middle finger. But having magic wasn't the only reason his mother had told him to make his own way in life.

~.~

 _After the ugly man had cursed and screamed, he rode away promising revenge, his name had been demoted again because he'd shouted at Merlin and held a knife to his throat. Merlin went back to his house, and told his mother what had happened_

 _"_ _Mother, why am I different to other children"_

 _"_ _Sweetheart you are not different!"_

 _To prove that he was different all Merlin had to do was hold up his left hand._

~.~

Merlin held up his right hand, all done. He gave the hand a final blow and passed the blade to his right hand and started trimming his left hand. It didn't help that he was left handed, it'd never been a serious problem, He couldn't write well anyway and he'd learned from a young age to use his right hand when possible. It was just left handed peasants were viewed as odd and sometimes even accused of being sorcerers, and if that happened to Merlin it wasn't as if he could even prove those people wrong! And that wasn't it. As well as being a left handed sorcerer he was a left handed sorcerer with six fingers. If he'd only been born with one of these elements then perhaps he would get away with it, live a normal life… but all three, one wrong move and he was a dead man.

He finished cutting his index finger.

He glanced at his mindex finger, that's what he had named his 6th finger since it lay between his index and middle fingers. He put down the knife once again. Maybe just this once he would allow the nail to grow, just for his sake so he always remembered… it would be his own little rebellion against the king or perhaps it was against himself, Merlin couldn't tell.

~.~

"And there are your boots sire." Merlin nodded as he carefully handed Arthur the leather boots with his right hand.

"Thank you Merlin" Arthur said shortly.

"Anything else sire"

"Yes, why are you wearing a bandage on your right hand?" he replied pointing at Merlin's index finger

"I cut it" Merlin shrugged non-committedly

"I hope my work isn't causing you injury" Arthur laughed, though not unkindly"

"Yes sire"

"Okay. Can you please could you pass me my sword"

Merlin nodded.

Swords were a bit trickier to carry with one hand.

He carried it with precision and Arthur easily drew it away, but his eyes lingered too long on Merlin's left hand and Merlin's left hand remained too long in Arthur's eyesight. Merlin put it down quickly but Arthur had seen... It was too late.

Merlin gulped.

"Don't worry Merlin; your secret is safe with me"

For some reason Merlin highly doubted that.

~.~

 **Hope you enjoyed that!**


	2. The fleeting glance

It was only a few days after the incident that Merlin began to relax. No guards had appeared at his door in the middle of the night, ready and waiting with a statement from the king telling him that he was being arrested and would be bought justice. No, this hadn't happened and Merlin begun to really think that Arthur was going to keep his secret safe. He therefore went back to his normal routine, but perhaps with a little more caution that hadn't been there before.

His body would tense even if he heard someone approaching and instinctively Merlin would hastily tug his sleeve up around his left hand and place it behind his back. Though if Merlin was honest with himself everyone in Camelot was far too busy with their own lives to notice a servant and therefore perhaps the precautions he took were too far, and anyway what would a person be able to do if they saw. Tell the king? Surely they would have better things to do with their lives and inform the king of such a trivial thing.

Merlin gulped and bit his lip, he went back to scrubbing Arthur's floor even harder than he had before.

"Merlin." the soft voice made him jump so much that he accidently knocked over the bucket and the soapy suds began to make their escape, right over the floor which he had just been polishing off. he sighed and looked up straight into the eyes of Gwen who was trying, but failing, to supress a smile. "Sorry Merlin, I didn't mean to make you jump."

"No, it's okay, that bit needed to be cleaned again anyway." Merlin said trying to supress his own smile, his stomach was doing that weird fluttery thing, the one he always got when he was around Gwen.

"I was just going to ask if you knew where Gaius was."

"Why is something wrong, are you ill?" Merlin asked with concern, he stopped trying to mop up the suds, he could add it to his to do list, and stood up, still being careful to hide his left hand from view. he made up his mind there and then, that if Gwen was ill he would use magic to heal her, whatever the consequences.

"No, no it's not me." Merlin felt a surge of relief but disappointment at the same time. He had always felt that if he could tell anyone about his magic it would be Gwen but that he would do it in the right way. If Gwen had been ill, not that he wanted her to be ill, but if she had been ill then Merlin could have saved her and then revealed his magic to her and she would reach up and… "Merlin? Merlin!" He realised that Gwen was staring at him "You really aren't with it today are you."

"Sorry, what's wrong?" he said shaking the vision away. He knew that his fantasy with Gwen would never become a reality, she had eyes for Arthur and Arthur only. Merlin was not about to go and ruin their relationship, one that had taken so long to build up. "It's Morgana." Gwen stated "She's been having nightmares again and I just thought that Gaius should know, so that he can prescribe something for her."

"I think he's in a meeting, but I'll tell him later when I see him."

"Okay thanks Merlin." Gwen walked out of the room, unaware of what she had just said. she said nightmares as if she'd never had one, as if it was just a word but Merlin who had experienced many of them himself knew all too well, what affect nightmares could have on ones mental state.

Nightmares were a cruel, evil thing and it was only those who suffered from them who really knew their power, and whilst Merlin didn't know much he did know one or two things about Nightmares.

~.~

Merlin repeated the information that Gwen had told him to Gaius that evening. Gaius raised an eyebrow but didn't say much on the matter except: "Poor child, she hadn't been getting them recently, I wondered what is causing them this time." he then stood up, went over to his medicine cabinet and expertly picked up a clear bottle that had a mesmerising purple liquid in it. He walked back over to the table and picked up some herbs smelled them and placed them back down. "These herbs are passed their time. Oh well this will have to do tonight. Merlin take this to Lady Morgana and tell her that I'm preparing her a special medicine but will require some herbs to complete."

"I'm assuming you want me to pick these herbs as well?"

"That's right, but you can go early tomorrow morning instead of tonight."

"Thanks, I'll add it to the list." Merlin said with a hint of sarcasm.

He took the bottle and walked swiftly out the room. Although Merlin had been here for a long tiem now, he still got lost and often found himself in a corridor, the same as all the others, that led to completely the wrong place. It didn't help that all the rooms in the castle had the same oak door in front of them and nothing ever stood out of place, except for Merlin, but then again he would always stick out of place no matter how hard he tried to blend in…

Merlin arrived at Morganas room in record time and confidently knocked on the door.

"Come in." It was Morganas voice directly. As Merlin was pulling the door knob he suddenly was worried that Morgana was changing and that she thought he was Gwen, like she had once before.

"It's Merlin." he said, just to give her some warning if she was changing. He entered the room slowly, but Morgana seemed unaware of his presence and was sitting on her stool and brushing her hair whilst watching her reflection. She put down the brush and smiled a little at Merlin.

"Merlin! What can I do for you?" her broad smile looked out of place on her pale face, but she did seem genuinely happy to see Merlin and he wasn't going to take that away from her.

"Erm, Gwen told me you were having nightmares again, so Gaius has prepared you a sleeping draught." he looked at Morgana and so wanted to tell her that he understood and if she ever needed to speak to him then he was always around. But instead he just held out his right hand and handed over the draught.

As she took it with her left hand, her sleeve suddenly dropped down. In a fleeting glance, Merlin was sure that he saw something that shouldn't be there, much like on his own left hand, something odd and out of place on Morganas delicate hand. But it was just a fleeting glance and Merlin couldn't be sure that it wasn't just the candlelight playing tricks on him.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed that!


End file.
